CUE-file support in latest firmware

Does anybody know how the cue-file support actually works?

What I managed to find out is this:
When update music library runs an amount of CUL files is generated.
Each CUL file represents a song from the CUE file.

Code:

#[UTF8FULLPATH]\MUSIC\VA-Global_Underground_24-7_(Mixed_by_Lee_Burridge)-RETAIL-2CD-2003-tronik\01_global_underground_24-7_(mixed_by_lee_burridge)_(cd1)-tronik.mp3
#[STARTTIME]18:53
#[TITLE]2 After 909
#[ARTIST]Justus Kohncke
#[ALBUM]Global Underground 24-7 (CD 1)

The only problem here is (again) the song order.
The reason people rip cd's this way is to have a seamless transition from one song to the next.
Changing the song order cancels all the advantages of the cue file support.

So what I am looking for is a way to correct the song order.

1. A way to do this might be to reference all the CUL files in a playlist.
2. An other way can be to generate your own CUL files

I'm looking forward to hearing some ideas from other users.

Found some time to write a script.
This generates it's own CUL files.

First it scans for cue files in the "MUSIC" directory.
Then it parses them and generates a cul file for each track.

I hope this is useful for anybody.

Code:

Const ForReading = 1 
Const ForWriting = 2 
Const ForAppending = 8 
Const TristateUseDefault = -2 
Const TristateTrue = -1 
Const TristateFalse = 0

Const nTitle         = 1
Const nPerformer     = 2
Const nStartTime     = 3

Const PlaylistFolder = "PLAYLISTS"
Const MusicFolder = "MUSIC"
Const UTFFullPath = "#[UTF8FULLPATH]"
Const FileTypeCue = "cue"

Dim oShell, oSysEnv, oFileSys, oFile, oStream, oNetwork, oArgs
Dim sLine, nPos, sTopic, sData, nIndex, nCueFiles
Dim sCurrentPath, sCulFileName, oMusicFolder, oPlaylistFolder
Dim sAlbumPerformer, sAlbumTitle, sAlbumFile, sTracks(), sCueFiles()

Set oShell         = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oFileSys     = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set oNetwork     = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
Set oSysEnv     = oShell.Environment("PROCESS")

'Build paths
sCurrentPath = CStr(oShell.CurrentDirectory)
Set oMusicFolder = oFileSys.Getfolder(sCurrentPath & MusicFolder)
Set oPlaylistFolder = oFileSys.Getfolder(sCurrentPath & PlaylistFolder)

' Find CUE files, put in array
For Each oFolder In oMusicFolder.SubFolders
    For Each oFile in oFolder.Files
        If LCase(oFileSys.GetExtensionName(oFile.Path)) = FileTypeCue Then
            nCueFiles = nCueFiles+1
            ReDim Preserve sCueFiles(nCueFiles)
            sCueFiles(nCueFiles) = oFile.Path
        End If
    Next
Next

' Loop CUE-Files
For i=1 To nCueFiles
    
    ' Parse CUE file to array
    nIndex = 0
    Set oFile = oFileSys.GetFile(sCueFiles(i))  
    Set oStream = oFile.OpenAsTextStream(ForReading, TristateUseDefault)    
    Do While Not oStream.AtEndOfStream 
        
        sLine = Trim(oStream.ReadLine)
        nPos1 = InStr(sLine," ")-1
        sTopic = Left(sLine,nPos1)
        nPos2 = InStr(sLine,Chr(34))
        nLen = InStrRev(sLine,Chr(34))-nPos2
        
        If (nPos2 <> 0) Then 
            sData = Mid(sLine,nPos2+1,nLen-1)
        Else
            nPos2 = InStr(nPos1+1,sLine," ")
            sData = Trim(Mid(sLine,nPos2))
        End If
         
        Select Case sTopic
        
            Case "REM"
                'Do nothing
            Case "PERFORMER"
                If nIndex = 0 Then
                    sAlbumPerformer = sData
                Else
                    sTracks(nPerformer,nIndex) = sData
                End If
            Case "TITLE"
                If nIndex = 0 Then
                    sAlbumTitle = sData
                Else
                    sTracks(nTitle,nIndex) = sData
                End If
            Case "FILE"
                sAlbumFile = sData
            Case "TRACK"
                nIndex = nIndex+1
                ReDim Preserve sTracks(3,nIndex)
            Case "INDEX"
                sTracks(nStartTime,nIndex) = Mid(sData,4,11)
        
        End Select
    
    Loop 
    oStream.Close
    
    ' Write CUL files
    For j=1 To UBound(sTracks,2)
        sTrackNr = CStr(j)
        While Len(sTrackNr) < 2
            sTrackNr = "0"+ sTrackNr
        Wend
        sCulFileName = ConvertToValidFileName(sTrackNr & ") " & sTracks(nPerformer,j) & " - " & sTracks(nTitle,j))
        If oFileSys.FileExists(oPlaylistFolder.Path & "\" & sCulFileName & ".CUL") Then oFileSys.DeleteFile(oPlaylistFolder.Path & "\" & sCulFileName & ".CUL")
        oPlaylistFolder.CreateTextFile(sCulFileName & ".CUL")
        Set oFile = oFileSys.GetFile(oPlaylistFolder.Path & "\" & sCulFileName & ".CUL") 
        Set oCueFile = oFileSys.GetFile(sCueFiles(i))
        Set oStream = oFile.OpenAsTextStream(ForAppending, TristateUseDefault)    
        oStream.WriteLine("#[UTF8FULLPATH]" & Right(oCueFile.ParentFolder,Len(oCueFile.ParentFolder)-2) & "\" & sAlbumFile)
        oStream.WriteLine("#[STARTTIME]" & sTracks(nStartTime,j))
        If j < UBound(sTracks,2) Then oStream.WriteLine("#[ENDTIME]" & sTracks(nStartTime,j+1))
        oStream.WriteLine("#[TITLE]" & sTrackNr & ") " & sTracks(nTitle,j))
        oStream.WriteLine("#[ARTIST]" & sTracks(nPerformer,j))
        oStream.WriteLine("#[ALBUM]" & sAlbumTitle)
        
        oStream.Close
    Next

Next

Function ConvertToValidFileName (sFileName)
    Dim re
    Set re = New RegExp
    
    'forbidden characters in file names:
    re.Pattern = "[\\/:\*\?""<>\|]"
    
    While re.Execute(sFileName).Count > 0
        sFileName = re.Replace(sFileName," ")
    Wend  
    Set re = Nothing

    ConvertToValidFileName = sFileName
End Function

aint that cool

what's the language this script is written in?

Looks like Visual Basic to me. It's probably a WSH (Windows Scripting Host) script.

Yep, it's VBScript. Just past the code into a text file and rename it to something.vbs. Put it in your player's root folder and doubleclick it.

It requires VB script host to be installed. But that's usually the case.

I found out about this few months ago. I was suprised to find CUL files from the player. Originally there was CUE files in the album folder. I haven't even heard about CUL before. And It really seemed NOT to work. In my case it just started to play from the start of any song and play till the end of album without any change in song number.

I think that's the way it is supposed to work.

If you look at the content of the CUL file, there is a reference to the original mp3 and a start offset. There is no way for the player to know what the end of the track is.

Perhaps you can try adding a line #[ENDTIME] or #[STOPTIME].
But it will propably not work since it has to be recoginzed by the player.

I made a small modification to the script (code in red) which adds an "#[ENDTIME]" line to the CUL files.

It amazes me that this is recognized by the player.

Advantages:
- Player switches to te next song when the endtime is reached.
In the old situation the player would display the current track until the end of the disk.
-Tracktimes are correctly displayed.

Disadvantages:
- Silences in between two tracks. No more seemless track transitions.


Ik think i will keep the script without the end times on my meizu.
I just hate silences between tracks.

Well now I tried that same album again... there is 3 cd:s that are all remixed to play without pauses. I found that with the two other "cd:s" the player switched from track to track, but it didn't play one song at a time. There was 2-4 tracks played and then it started again from somewhat random track. It always plays a part from beginning of the album (less than second) before it goes to start of track. So you can't see the right name of track (I'm not sure if it shows the track name which it plays first.)